About

Olya in Vietnam, December 2013

My first job placement was in the capital projects department in a large mining company. I loved the chain of manufacturing that connect us all, from underground mines in Sudbury to the Eames knockoffs manufactured in China.

A few years later I became interested in interior design, I found it especially amazing that a basic idea of a chair could take on so many shapes and forms. Midcentury designs are particularly fascinating to me: the original idea born in 1950 continues to be modern and fresh 60 years later, living on through massively distributed nets of manufacturing chains around the world.

The combination of these things: global interconnectivity of ideas, and the manufacturing chain that exists based on those ideas – lead to this project of photographing small designer chairs in the context of large real world locations.

The miniature designer chair series started in 2011 and covered countries in Asia, Europe and North America.

To inquire about collaborations or specific print requests please get in touch via email at olya@olya.org.